


I'm Watching You (Are You Watching Me?)

by AmbroseRivers



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Agent! Dan, Alternate Universe, First Meeting, Hacker! Phil, M/M, Spying, Strangers to Lovers, YouTuber! Phil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-22 22:27:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13773894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmbroseRivers/pseuds/AmbroseRivers
Summary: Dan is an MI5 agent and is tasked with observing Phil Striker.





	I'm Watching You (Are You Watching Me?)

**Author's Note:**

> This is fluffier than I'm used to. Friendly reminder that fluff is not my forte. XD  
> These are your WARNINGS: Spying, masturbation, and...that's really it.  
> Hope y'all enjoy.

Dan was so done with today.

His temples were pounding and he had ran out of coffee a significant amount of time ago. The last dredges of the caffeine that had been swirling around his system left him along with his breath as he leaned back in his rolling chair, angling his head until his neck cracked with a satisfying pop.

“Having one of those days?”

Dan groaned at the calm, quiet timbre that reached his ears, flopping forward so he could collapse onto his folded arms as PJ moved into his line of sight. Just like Dan had feared, he clutched a thick manila envelope in his left hand but he also carried a steaming cup in his right.

“Please, no.” Dan begged the other, squeezing his eyes shut as buried his face deeper into his suit covered arms. “Have mercy.”

“I’m sorry,” PJ lamented with him sympathetically, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his wrist as he set the drink he had brought down with a gentle _thunk_ a safe distance away from Dan’s keyboard. “I brought you coffee, though.”

“Thank you,” Dan mumbled unenthusiastically while another exhausted sigh left his parted lips. He grabbed the mug and wrapped his fingers around it, savoring the warmth and the subsequent loosening of his shoulders. “What have you got for me?”

“A surveillance assignment for a new person of interest.” PJ answered as Dan straightened his spine and his tie. He held out the file in offering and Dan extended his right to accept it as he took a small sip from the coffee.

It wasn’t as sweet as he would like it but the additional bitterness fit his mood perfectly so he merely hummed to encourage the other to continue, taking a bigger mouthful as he shimmied the first page out of its prison. “We suspect that he might be an experienced hacker. He could pose a threat if we don’t keep an eye on him- there have been several suspicious activities documented…”

PJ’s words became a background drone as Dan stared at startling light eyes and raven hair styled into a choppy fringe that reminded him of his own back when he was a teenager.

 _It definitely suits him._  

That wasn't what was bothering him, however. Dan squinted, resting his teeth lightly on the rim of his mug unthinkingly. 

His target looked strangely familiar and it niggled at the edges of Dan's sleep deprived memory. His heart leapt into his throat as his eyes skipped across the neatly printed name of the man he was to observe.

_Phil Striker._

**_Oh. Oh no._ **

**_-_ **

Dan rapped against the door to PJ’s office insistently.

It was late.

The sun had already set and the sky was a dark velvet blanket sprinkled with blinking stars embedded in its fabric lovingly…and he wouldn’t be able to see them if he was in his office. He also needed Peej to repeat his debriefing because he may have…spaced out for most of it.

He was suddenly face to face with a scowling Cyber Risk Accreditor and Dan grinned sheepishly as he took in the unruly tufts of hair and slight indentations on PJ's bottom lip. He held up the bag of Chinese takeaway as a silent peace offering, shuffling his feet shyly as he waited for the ragged operative to allow him into his space.

“Hypothetically,” Dan coughed as he set about rearranging the files littering the low coffee table so they wouldn’t get stained from grease or be at risk if their drinks tipped over (which happened more often than he cared to admit. He had a clumsy streak.) “How angry would you be if I said I didn’t catch the debrief?”

“Are you serious, Howell?” PJ huffed, squeezing his nasal ridge between the tip of his thumb and forefinger. “You can’t be serious?”

“I’m sorry!” Dan squeaked, blood rushing to the surface of his cheeks to dye them a pale rose. “I wasn’t prepared to have our target be a semi-celebrity! Especially one that has such a clean-cut image as Phil Striker.” He started pulling out the containers of food to set them up in a line in the center of the now clear tabletop. “The only thing that could be problematic is he pulled down some posts that looked into his private life but I can’t really blame the guy. Otherwise, he is a decent lad.”

“He is quite popular,” PJ agreed, kicking the door shut as he made his way to join Dan. He didn’t drag his office chair over like Dan expected. Instead, Peej plopped down on the hard floor, crossing his legs with a yawn. “You should know by now that _that_ doesn’t mean anything, Dan. You’ve been an agent for a little over a year now.”

“Yeah, I know.” Dan mumbled, unbuttoning his cuffs to roll his sleeves above his elbow deftly. He tossed a paper plate to PJ. “I was taken off guard. It’s not every day that a guy is in charge of making sure the YouTuber he used to watch is not trying to take down the Queen or whatever.”

PJ laughed, dropping the lo mein he had scooped onto his fork. “Only you, Howell.”

"I know," Dan whined, spearing a few pieces of orange chicken with a little too much vigor. "It's horrible." 

PJ sobered, poking at the noodles with a sharp downturn of his lips. “Maybe it’s just your bad luck. His file says that he was able to gain access to government records- you need to be careful on this one." PJ plucked a single long noodle from his plate to plop it into his mouth. "Did you look up to the guy?”

Dan’s tongue darted out to swipe against his top lip followed by the top row of his teeth. His mouth was dry as he responded, “Yeah." He added more to his plate, pushing the chicken around and watching the trail of sauce it left behind with rapture. "I even wanted to be a YouTuber, but that obviously didn’t happen.”

"Are you going to be able to watch him without being influenced?" PJ pinned him with irises darkened with concern. "You could ask for this file to be reassigned."

"I'll be fine," Dan quipped, trying to put PJ's nervous and agile mind at ease. "I haven't seen his videos since I was 18. It shouldn't be a problem."

"Okay." PJ replied without hesitation and there was a lull as they both tucked in, racing to satiate their grumbling stomachs.

“A YouTuber to MI5,” PJ mused after a while, taking a bite of an eggroll. “How did that happen?”

Dan smiled but a heavy melancholy draped itself across his shoulders, weighing him down. He picked at his fried rice, tossing the grains across his plate idly. “It’s a long story, Peej. Though, I can tell you I started as an intern at a law firm…”

-

The first time he opened his laptop to watch Phil was uneventful.

Phil didn’t seem very threatening as he surfed around YouTube.

He checked on several channels, skimming their recent upload pages, before he hopped to the trending page to watch a few of the higher positioned videos- sometimes, laughing and sometimes, shaking his head. He then went to check his Twitter feed and engage with his fans before switching to answering emails and brainstorming.

He went through these motions in what seemed like an endless cycle but Dan couldn’t complain. He was basically getting paid to watch YouTube videos and Phil. It was almost like sitting down to enjoy a reaction channel- just...unscripted, less exciting, and more domestic.

“You are much more boring than I thought, Phil.” Dan told his computer screen, taking a gulp of his Ribena as he rapped his pen against his desk listlessly. “You light up for the camera but you’re—”

A high pitched cry pierced his ear drums and Dan ripped his headphones off his head with a wince, shaking his head to dispel the ringing left behind from Phil’s yell. Phil was hopping around, obscuring his view as he clutched his laptop to his chest to keep from dropping it, and Dan couldn’t help but laugh at the blue blur that moved across his feed.

“You clumsy oaf,” Dan rolled his eyes as he replaced the headset over his ears. “There’s a table there. You shouldn’t walk and tweet.”

“Ow!” Phil groaned and Dan pressed a hand over the plastic as he turned the volume up. Phil always spoke so softly. “I’m such an idiot!” He was chuckling breathlessly and his scrunched face and pained smile came into focus as he set his laptop down and oh, he had definitely grown since the last time Dan had seen him.

His features were much more angular and his eyes were still expressive but somehow…less soft and-

Dan tossed his head left then right before he grabbed his mouse to close the window.

Phil Striker was just another person he was surveying.

He needed to keep his mind on his objective.

-

Phil was ( _unfortunately_ ) endearing, Dan learned as he settled into a routine of observing the YouTuber's daily hustle and bustle.

He had some of the strangest searches ( _-and might be a bit of a hypochondriac,_ Dan had thought to himself while Phil typed in _strange smell in nose after cold_ on one memorable occasion) but nothing too alarming or outside of the realm of his work that would lead Dan to believe he was involved in a plot to leak government secrets.

Though... Dan had to admit that he hadn’t pegged Phil as someone who was into conspiracy theories or mpreg coffee shop AU fanfiction but who was he to judge when he had multiple tabs open on his own phone that exposed his own questionable interests when it came to the various fandoms he was in.

_We all have our kinks._

Phil was editing tonight so Dan had taken over PJ’s office since the other agent had left relatively early to start his weekend with a “If you screw with any of my codes, I’ll murder you.” and a pointed ‘I’m watching you’ gesture as he fled.

The nub of his pen scratched over the paperwork he was working on half-heartedly, expelling a harsh breath as the printed letters grew hazy the longer he stared at them. His gaze drifted to Phil’s glazed and unfocused line of sight in regular intervals with a small frown.

_He looks exhausted._

Phil’s eyelids drooped and closed, head bobbing dangerously before he startled himself back to alertness, jolting upright with a wary glance behind him and around the entirety of his gaming room.

It wasn’t _unusual_ but something about the nervous tic made warning bells blare in the back of Dan's mind so he noted it down habitually.

**_Target appears to be hyper-aware of environment even when alone._ **

_...and needs to get some fucking sleep._

“I’m being silly,” Phil murmured as if trying to dispute Dan’s observation, scrubbing a palm against his chin. “I need to finish this video.”

“You need to rest is what you need to do,” Dan grumbled, fighting the siren call of slumber tugging at his own eyes. “The video can wait—fuck— my ears!”

The shrill notes of Phil’s mobile surrounded him and Phil glanced at it, jabbing at the screen. He let his head fall to his desk. “Hey Chris.”

“Phil!” Chris greeted energetically. “How have you been, mate?”

“I’m currently fighting with this upload and,” Phil shifted, fingers pattering softly against the surface he was slumped against, as he glanced upwards. Dan’s heart skipped a beat because it was almost as if Phil was looking _right at him_ and holy shit, he was not **_ready._** “…working on finding a collaborator.”

_What?_

The wrinkles marring Dan's forehead deepened as his lips followed the pull of gravity even more.

_That can't be right._

He started to shuffle through the pages littering his desk-  _where the fuck is it?-_ until he found the report he was searching for. He skimmed it quickly, the curve of his nail guiding his pupils as Chris and Phil carried on with their conversation.

“How’s that going?”

 _It’s not because it’s a lie._ Dan supplied wordlessly, glancing over subject lines and looking for the word ‘collab’ or ‘collaborator’ in Phil’s recent email correspondence for a second time. He was coming up empty and it was confusing him… Why would Phil lie?

_Is he trying to save face?_

“I don’t know yet,” Phil admitted and Dan swore his gaze went to him once more. “I’m not sure they're getting the message, but I’m not inclined to try and fight for their attention.”

**_What?_ **

“There will be other collabs, man.” Chris reassured and Phil finally sat up, propping his head up with the palm of his hand. Dan couldn’t help but appreciate the tightness of his ridiculous Cookie Monster t-shirt and the fluffy quiff he sported from running frustrated fingers through the dark ( _dyed)_ strands. “Don’t sweat it.”

“You’re right,” Phil stretched his arms up, puffing out his chest and Dan slammed his forehead down, hitting a couple of keys in the process. He could only hope that he hadn’t messed with any of Peej’s background programs but at this exact second, he couldn’t bring himself to care. “How have things been with you?”

“Oh, same old, same old.” Chris singsonged with a giggle and Dan’s lips twitched at the mischievous lilt in the boy’s voice. “I found a new conspiracy theory…you should probably look into privacy stickers.”

“ ** _Oh no._** ” Dan fretted out loud, jerking his back head up. "Don't do that. Please, Phil."

Phil nibbled on his lower lip with a glimmer of reluctant consideration brightening his eyes, lips jumping at the corners. “Hmm…why’s that?”

_It’s not fucking fair. How can anyone be that cute?_

"C'mon!" Dan snarled uselessly, swiping his files onto the floor in a fit of pique as his stomach twisted at the lopsided half-smile gracing Phil’s lips while Chris chattered at him. “Chris, you’re a fucking _dick.”_  

_And make my life so much harder than it has to be?!_

Dan was unnerved by the way Phil's eyes were glued to his general location and he had to remind himself of the video still loading in the editing program that he had shoved into the corner of his surveillance screen.

-

He can’t see anything the next time he opened his surveillance feed and he cursed Chris Kendall ( _benign, another YouTuber who was branching into comedy, and a conspiracy nut)_ for his unintended meddling.

“I guess I’ll just pull up your screen then, Philly.” Dan announced, noisy clicks already filling the somewhat hazy and dreamy atmosphere of Louise’s office.

He had decided to invade the friendly receptionist’s sanctuary because his temples were pulsing painfully and the sweet incense wafting around was efficient in soothing his soon-to-be migraine before it even began. He needed to be sure to thank her for letting him take over her room for the better part of the late afternoon and evening.

“What are you up to—oh!”

Dan stared at the small icons with an open mouth and flaming cheeks. Phil’s mouse moved from one with a busty redhead with her legs spread in the backseat of a car to another with a slim boy with his lips stretched over an angry red cock before it floated away.

“Fucking hell,” Dan seethed, forcing the heel of his palms against his eyes as his cock stirred in interest. He quickly adjusted his rapidly forming erection as Phil’s breathing tickled his ears and caused him to shiver. “I am a professional, god damn it. This is a part of my job and I am not losing it because I have to watch porn and listen to _Phil fucking Striker_ wank.” Dan let out a miffed moan, dragging his clawed fingers down his face, as he realized what he had just said out loud. “Oh my fucking _god_. What _is_ my life?”

Phil had apparently chosen a video because breathy and desperate whimpers flooded his ears and Dan blinked owlishly at the slender, wide-hipped boy bouncing on a thick, veiny cock with his head bowed. His hair was straight and flopped into his eyes with each thrust and there were pretty little gold hoops in his ears and snakebites in his lips...and…

Dan worked in gathering information and he knew, without a doubt, that there were ways to see into their offices so _no_ , he didn’t touch himself while he listened to Phil pant and whine in his ear...

(If he ran to the bathroom so he could lock himself in a stall and take himself in hand…well, he knew that one of the safest and  _bug-free_ places to be in a government building was the bathroom. If he had to muffle his mewls and whispered pleas for _more_ …he also knew how to keep quiet- even if the deep bite marks on his fingers told their own story.)

-

His hand trembled as his teeth clicked against the brim of the mug pressed against his raw and tender lips.

Dan’s skin was still slick with sweat from their latest meeting and he was half-afraid he would drop his drink with his shaking.

PJ worked without pause, fingers dancing over dark buttons as he plugged in a series of commands into the small black window.

“Someone is bypassing our system,” PJ informed him as his nostrils flared, throwing his head back to move his hair away from his face. “They aren’t taking any files but they are _looking_. Everyone is scrambling to try and switch servers or lock 'em out but whoever they are…they’re good.”

“Lovely,” Dan muttered, placing his cup down without taking his concentration off of the window PJ was using and the blue folder icons they knew had been recently broken into and compromised serving as their background image. He distantly registered the shattering of glass but neither he nor PJ acknowledged it. “Is there anything we can do to slow them down?”

“Unless you can find out what they want…no.” PJ’s spine curved as he hunched closer to the keys giving under his jittery, anxious movements. “Nothing has been leaked but it’s a very real possibility.”

“Lovely.” Dan repeated as he stared at the open files from Louise, PJ, Alfie, and Zoella’s stations. His stomach clenched uneasily, bile coating his tongue and making him dizzy, “Just…fucking peachy.”

All the files came from places he had utilized at one point or another for whatever reason.

It could be a coincidence but his panicky stomach and fluttering heart clued him in that it most likely wasn’t.

Dan needed to limit his activities to one area to prove his hunch.

-

“You’re a liar,” Dan mumbled as Phil worked. The angle of the camera let Dan know that Phil was sprawled on his bed, flat on his back, with his computer propped on his knees whereas Dan was flopped on his tummy, limbs hanging off the edges of his bed as he closed his eyes. His cheek ground into the documents he had been poring over. “Your bank statements don’t add up but I don’t know _why_.”

“Perhaps I’m not looking in the right place,” Phil reasoned to himself in his deep baritone, echoing Dan’s swirling chaotic thoughts in a more precise way. “I wonder where…” He trailed off and Dan just let the calm, soothing cadence of his breaths lull him into a semi-relaxed state, letting his muddled nonthoughts come to the front of his mind and swim away.

“You’re a liar but…you’re not crooked,” Dan reiterated sleepily, eyelashes tickling his skin as he tried to pry them open. “Maybe a bit wayward." He chuckled at Phil's own words spoken in his slurred but still articulate speech. "You’re also a good actor…no wonder you’re so popular.”

Dan fumbled for his personal mobile, staring at the Twitter feed under his old screen name with a rush of air. “What are you _really_ up to, Phil Striker?” He rolled over so he was starfished out on his checkered sheets, composing a tweet under a moniker he hadn’t used in years. "I want to know."

_@danisnotonfire: I hope you’re getting some rest, you rat._

**_October 19 3:48am_ **

Dan went to deleted the characters but eyes slid shut, sleep finally dragging him under.

His thumb brushed the post option as he rocked to curl on his right side, still dressed in his suit and wearing his shoes.

-

Dan threw his arm across his face as the sun decided it wanted to be an asshole and lay itself in a searing ray across his paper-thin eyelids. He moaned in protest, toes clenching at the soreness around his ankles and heels, and he toed off his shoes.

He tried to regain the comfortable position he had been in but his bladder was full and howling angrily at the way his belt was digging painfully into his middle so he groggily wrestled to undo it, crushing the files under his body.

“Fuck,” Dan swore as he forced himself to sit up, pushing his fringe back, as his eyes snapped open. “I’m going to have to re-do—” He cut himself off as he realized that his surveillance feed was still open and Phil was _zeroed in_ on him.

Dan tried to rid himself of the gritty feeling lingering around his aching eyes as he regarded Phil with bewildered alarm.

_You’re being stupid. He can’t see you…he’s probably working._

Dan licked his lips and swayed to the left to pick to pluck the discarded bank statements from his carpet but he froze when Phil tracked the direction of his motion with quirked lips.

Dan swallowed nervously and raised his hand experimentally, waving.

“This is so stupid,” Dan berated himself, face hot. “I’m just being para—”

“So _you’re_ the one snooping around,” Phil interrupted him, returning his wave with his tongue wedged between his teeth. “I have to say you gave me a run for my money with your computer hopping." He clicked his tongue in minor disapproval as he blew a lock of wavy hair out of his eye. "I hope I didn’t aggravate anyone with my snooping. You guys really need to get a better system.”

Dan couldn’t help but gape at Phil’s nonchalant tone and how the other man reclined back in his chair, rubbing his neck bashfully. “I was only trying to figure out who was keeping an eye on me.”

“I—” Dan stuttered, reeling from being addressed directly and the knowledge that Phil could see him right now— _when his trousers were unbuckled and his pants were clearly exposed._ Dan quickly grabbed his pillow to toss it over his crotch. “You—I—”

“I didn’t think it’d be someone as cute as you,” Phil steamrolled over Dan’s inarticulate and unconnected words. “You look a little young to be in charge of an operation.”

“I’m 24!” Dan shot back, brows furrowing as he pursed his lips. “Thank you very much." He ground his knuckles into his throbbing eyes with a disbelieving groan. "I’m not in charge of anything…I was just told to watch you and see if you were a hacker, which…you know…you are.” Dan finished dryly, flicking his wrist sassily so his hand was held out. “So, there you go.”

“I _am_ a hacker,” Phil confirmed easily, bemused. Dan’s head was spinning crazily with the confession and the explosions of mirth and devilry in eyes that were not just blue but that fluctuated toward green with an arc of gold around the darkness of his pupils. “Do you have a name, Mr. Not-In-Charge agent?”

“I-I can’t tell you that.” Dan deflected immediately, jerking his chin upwards with a hard set of his jaw. He turned away from Phil determinedly. “Sorry, Philly.”

He should have closed the feed as soon as Phil started to talk to him but something stilled his hand and even now… Dan's fingertips hovered over the power button uncertainly, hesitating. 

Phil grinned even wider at him and Dan tried to hide behind his hand.

He could feel the heat radiating from his stained skin and he could only hope that his neck wasn’t spotty with his uneven flush.

“Philly, huh?” 

“Shut up, you-“ Dan struggled to come up with a witty comeback when his heart was fluttering and crashing against his ribcage in mortification and another bubbling feeling he didn’t want to analyze. He blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “You _spork.”_

Phil dissolved into laughter and Dan puffed out a hot gust of breath.

“Well,” Phil giggled, one arm slung across his abdomen as he practically vibrated with how hard he was reining in his airy and low sounds of amusement. “I’m Phil…though your superiors should know that I do not go by Phil Striker in my real job.” He tapped the pads of his fingers across his lips with a wink.  “Try _Phil Lester_ , **_Danny._** _”_

Dan spluttered in both outrage and surprise at the nickname.

_-_

It turned out that Phil Lester was another agent…in MI6.

His boss was neither pleased nor entertained by that fact or the fact that Phil started to track Dan at work so he could chatter at him on the nearest available computer. Dan was pulled into the intimidating presence of his higher up with semi-regularity to be scolded about the  **proper** use of the department's equipment.

It wasn't the greatest experience but that was okay…because Dan knew that as soon as he left, if Phil was available, he would be greeted with an apologetic smile and affectionate eyes the second he crossed the threshold into his office.

It was a fair trade, in Dan's opinion.

(Though, he would never admit that...especially to a certain somebody was to teasing him about having a voyeur kink like he was _now_.)

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted to my Tumblr: loveinthebones.  
> Don't judge me, okay? This was inspired by the whole idea that the government has been watching us and my groggy brain was like, "This could be a thing!" and yeah.  
> I am very tired so any and all mistakes are mine. Feel free to point them out so I can correct them. <3


End file.
